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Woman’s last moments may have been witnessed online

Hours before she was found dead, a horrified overseas friend chatting with a young woman via webcam saw her struggling with a man who entered her apartment, Toronto police say.

Dramatic details of what appear to be the woman’s final moments were described Sunday by Det.-Sgt. Frank Skubic of the homicide squad.

The body of a young woman was found in an apartment at 27 Aldwinckle Heights, south of York University, on April 15. (Peter Small / Toronto Star)

The young woman’s body was found, naked from the waist down, at 11 a.m. on Friday by police and emergency workers at an apartment on Aldwinckle Heights, near York University. Police say there were no obvious signs of sexual assault.

But 10 hours earlier, the still unidentified Chinese woman had been having a webcam chat with someone overseas. The witness, whose name police have not released, heard a knock on the door and saw a man enter the woman’s basement apartment.

“There was a physical struggle between the deceased and this male, and the male (then) turned off the deceased’s laptop computer,” Skubic said.

Some of the struggle was on camera, and some out of range.

The computer — believed to be an IBM T400 ThinkPad — is now missing and police are anxious to recover it. A cellphone found in the apartment, believed to be the victim’s, is undergoing forensic examination, Skubic said.

The online witness “did the best that he could under the circumstances” after seeing the struggle, Skubic said. “He sent out a mass alert to the friends of the deceased over the Internet.”

But the message was sent in the middle of the night Toronto time, and some time passed until someone read the message and went to check on the dead woman.

Skubic said police have been in touch with the witness, and are trying to find out if there’s any way to recover images from his online conversation with the victim.

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Skubic said the cause of death is still unknown. There were no signs of physical trauma that would have led to her death, he said, and police are now awaiting toxicology reports.

Police believe they know who the woman is, but still can’t make a positive identification. Relatives of the woman are making arrangements to come to Canada.

Police would not confirm reports that the victim was a 23-year-old MBA student at York University.

The man who entered the apartment was white, between the ages of 20 and 30, about 6 feet tall and 175 to 200 pounds with a muscular build, Skubic said. He has medium length brown hair, messy at the front and groomed at the back, and was wearing a blue crewneck T-shirt.

“We would like to talk to this male,” said Skubic.

The death has been discussed on some online sites, Skubic said, and a photo of a man who knew the victim was posted on one of them.

“We have identified and interviewed this male. He is regarded as a person of interest and not a suspect at this time,” Skubic said.

Meanwhile, police appear to have broadened their search for evidence to a house a few blocks away, owned by the same landlord as the house where the woman died.

While police had removed the yellow police tape from the house on Aldwinckle midday on Sunday, they had also zeroed in on an address a few blocks away on Haynes Ave. A police forensic identification truck and a smaller van sat outside the house through the afternoon.

Skubic wouldn’t comment when asked whether the activity on Haynes was related to the death on Aldwinckle.

About 11 people live in the house on Aldwinckle where the woman was killed and police have not yet spoken to all of them, Skubic said. He asked any of the residents to get in touch with the homicide squad.

One York student who lives at the house said he believed the young woman who died was from Beijing and had moved into the house in January. The student refused to give his name.

Neighbours who spoke with the Star said they did not know the young woman.

“There are like 14 rooms in some of the houses so you might not even know who you live with,” said Brittni Gill, 21.

She added she generally feels safe in the area — The Village at York University, a student neighbourhood where she said many international students live. But the death has shaken young women in the community.

“A lot of people left for the weekend,” said Katryna Prado, 22. “I think for safety. They don’t feel comfortable.”

“None of my friends are walking home alone. It’s the buddy system,” explained Camilla, a 22-year-old sociology student who declined to give her last name.

Xin Hua Huang, a Chinese consular official, told reporters on the scene on Friday morning that he had received a call from the victim’s mother, who lives in China. She was very worried about her daughter, he said.

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